Skip to main content

Introduction to Zevo

Hebron Sher recalls daydreaming in 2019 when Elon Musk announced that Tesla’s cars would become robotaxis, capable of making money for their owners. As a user of the car-sharing platform Turo, Sher found the idea of turning a Tesla into a significant moneymaker appealing.

The Birth of Zevo

However, as the years passed, Musk failed to deliver on his promise. In 2021, Sher assembled a small team, including co-founder Saimah Chaudhry, to start his own company, Zevo. "We’re just going to do this ourselves," he thought at the time. Zevo is a peer-to-peer car-sharing startup that focuses exclusively on electric vehicles, similar to Turo.

Funding and Growth

The Dallas-based startup has been in operation for around 10 months and has recently announced that it has raised $6 million in funding to expand across more major U.S. cities. Sher told TechCrunch that Zevo is already tracking over $8 million in annualized recurring revenue (ARR) and has a waitlist of more than 3,500 customers, all with minimal marketing.

Market Demand

On the renter side, the majority of interest is coming from gig workers, with 90% of people using Zevo to rent an EV for Uber, Lyft, or DoorDash deliveries. Sher believes that Zevo has found the "secret sauce" to make car sharing lucrative for hosts and affordable for renters.

The Secret Sauce

According to Sher, the secret sauce is not raising hundreds of millions of dollars to build a marketplace. Instead, Zevo raised private capital, rejecting VC capital, to focus on gathering good engineers, developing a strong go-to-market strategy, and causing "true disruption." By bootstrapping, Zevo can send more money to vehicle owners than they would receive on platforms like Turo.

Contactless Process

Zevo’s contactless process allows owners and renters to share a car without handing over keys or key cards. While not novel, Sher argues that Zevo’s focus on EVs makes the process more seamless, as these vehicles are more technologically capable and easier to integrate into a smartphone app.

Attracting Gig Workers

The contactless process, combined with the automation of tasks like insurance and incidentals, has made Zevo attractive to gig workers. Many of these workers don’t have the credit scores required by larger car-sharing or rental services, but Zevo’s platform provides an alternative. Sher likens Zevo to the MetroPCS of renting cars.

Results and Future Prospects

The result is that Zevo is seeing a median rental of around 80 days, with hosts able to make back between 35% and 65% of the cost of their car in just a year. With 90% of the vehicles on the platform being Teslas, Sher feels confident that he’s found a way to deliver on Musk’s promise from 2019. Even with Tesla’s upcoming robotaxi service, Sher is not worried, as Zevo is focused on disrupting car-sharing, not ride-hailing. He believes that Zevo can break $100 million ARR with a staff of just 30 people and minimal future investment.


Source Link